Puncture caused Sarrazin’s early Ypres exit

Stéphane Sarrazin says a puncture was to blame for the accident that put him out of the Geko Ypres Rally on the event’s opening special stage.

The French Peugeot 207 driver, who hasn’t tackled a rally since his run to fourth place on Rallye Automobile Monte-Carlo in January, was less than five kilometres into the 28.82-kilometre Hollebeke stage when he understeered and clipped an electricity pylon, which punctured his front-left tyre and caused him to plunge into a ditch on a subsequent right-hand bend.

“It was just at 40kph and it’s really bad because it was a stupid mistake,” said the Le Mans 24 Hours racer. “I was not going at 100 per cent but I had a good feeling with the car. Unfortunately I was too far from the road to come back on but that is life.”

Despite the early setback in Belgium, Sarrazin has vowed to return to the Intercontinental Rally Challenge before the end of the season.

“I will do some tests in July to prepare for the next rally but I don’t know when that will be,” he said. “But I hope I will do more because I like a lot and I enjoy a lot the rally.”